What to do with sealed 2010 5oz ATB set? ADVICE NEEDED!

CraigL

Hi All -

Back in late 2010, I was able to purchase one of the full sets of 5oz 'America The Beautiful' hockeypuck coins from MTB. This box (still sealed) has sat in a storage tote now for well north of a decade.

Last year, I trimmed my collection down significantly and this was the single item that remained, and I'm puzzled on what to do with it. There doesn't appear to be much (any?) interest, as a similar sealed set has sat on eBay for years and years and has yet to sell. The story on these -- especially the 2010s -- is pretty wild so the fact that the interest level is low is somewhat surprising to me.

Looking for some advice on what to do. Do I send the whole set in for grading? Sell for bullion value? Simply hang on and see what happens in the next 5-10 years?

Any and all advice would be super appreciated here! Thank you!

-Craig

Steven59

Hold on to it and hope silver gets to 50$ an ounce - then SELL, SELL, SELL!

MFeld

@CraigL said:
Hi All -

Back in late 2010, I was able to purchase one of the full sets of 5oz 'America The Beautiful' hockeypuck coins from MTB. This box (still sealed) has sat in a storage tote now for well north of a decade.

Last year, I trimmed my collection down significantly and this was the single item that remained, and I'm puzzled on what to do with it. There doesn't appear to be much (any?) interest, as a similar sealed set has sat on eBay for years and years and has yet to sell. The story on these -- especially the 2010s -- is pretty wild so the fact that the interest level is low is somewhat surprising to me.

Looking for some advice on what to do. Do I send the whole set in for grading? Sell for bullion value? Simply hang on and see what happens in the next 5-10 years?

Any and all advice would be super appreciated here! Thank you!

-Craig

What would your reason be for keeping the set? Are you enjoying having it or would it make a difference to you if it appreciated in value by 10%, 50%, 100%, other?

AUandAG

Either stash for an emergency or rainy day or sell now for bullion value. If you sold now would you re-invest into something that might appreciate in value? If so, sell now.
bob
vegas, baby!

Mr_Spud

I sold off all of my raw 5oz silver quarters about a half year ago as bullion, along with a bunch of silver bullion to help fund buying some of the more expensive coins in my 19th century circulated type set. I had gone through my 5 oz pucks some years ago and sent off a couple of the better looking ones to get slabbed and I kept those. You might want to do something similar, as in going through them and sending off any really nice ones to get slabbed and sell off the rest if you need the funds for something else you’d enjoy better. Otherwise, just leave them in the storage tote and forget about them if you don’t need the funds.

JWP

Put a listing on BST with good photos and you never know, someone may be very interested in them. It doesn't take long to do a listing and post photos either. Good luck with your silver Delima.

CraigL

What would your reason be for keeping the set? Are you enjoying having it or would it make a difference to you if it appreciated in value by 10%, 50%, 100%, other?

Na, no real enjoyment from hanging onto it, but really not costing me much, either.. just the opportunity cost of the bucks.

CraigL

@Mr_Spud said:
I sold off all of my raw 5oz silver quarters about a half year ago as bullion, along with a bunch of silver bullion to help fund buying some of the more expensive coins in my 19th century circulated type set. I had gone through my 5 oz pucks some years ago and sent off a couple of the better looking ones to get slabbed and I kept those. You might want to do something similar, as in going through them and sending off any really nice ones to get slabbed and sell off the rest if you need the funds for something else you’d enjoy better. Otherwise, just leave them in the storage tote and forget about them if you don’t need the funds.

So far this is how I am leaning -- just wait another 5 years and see where things are at.

Thanks so much for the reply!

CraigL

@JWP said:
Put a listing on BST with good photos and you never know, someone may be very interested in them. It doesn't take long to do a listing and post photos either. Good luck with your silver Delima.

Tried this, literally had no response -- not even any lowball offers! Ha!

winesteven

Apmex.com is selling a set of these five raw for $1,520 (individually, the Grand Canyon and Yosemite are more “in demand” than the other three). While they won’t pay you close to that retail price, I have a sense they’ll pay you WAY ABOVE SPOT, especially if you point out what they are selling it for.

Maybe contact them and negotiate now, instead of waiting five years? You can always say “No” to their best offer!

Your thoughts?

Steve

CraigL

@winesteven said:
Apmex.com is selling a set of these five raw for $1,520 (individually, the Grand Canyon and Yosemite are more “in demand” than the other three). While they won’t pay you close to that retail price, I have a sense they’ll pay you WAY ABOVE SPOT, especially if you point out what they are selling it for.

Maybe contact them and negotiate now, instead of waiting five years? You can always say “No” to their best offer!

Your thoughts?

Steve

Now this is something I never have considered.

Certainly cannot hurt to try! Like you said..can always say no.

Great thinking, Steve. Thank you!

-Craig

winesteven

Keep in mind the Mint made two different types - the shiny “Bullion” version, and the more expensive “Collector” version, with a sand-blasted type surface. Determine accurately which ones you actually have, since they differ significantly in value!

Let us know what you find out!

Steve

FranklinHalfAddict

@CraigL said:
The story on these -- especially the 2010s -- is pretty wild.
-Craig

Could you provide a link to somewhere that has the story or give a brief version of it?
I tried finding something on Google but couldn’t and I’m not familiar with the story.
Thanks.

mbogoman

@winesteven said:
Keep in mind the Mint made two different types - the shiny “Bullion” version, and the more expensive “Collector” version, with a sand-blasted type surface. Determine accurately which ones you actually have, since they differ significantly in value!

Let us know what you find out!

Steve

The OP's set is the Bullion version. MTB was one of the Mint distributors that sold the Bullion version sets. The collector versions were sold by the mint, individually - NOT in sets. Each comes in its own black box.

winesteven

@mbogoman said:

@winesteven said:
Keep in mind the Mint made two different types - the shiny “Bullion” version, and the more expensive “Collector” version, with a sand-blasted type surface. Determine accurately which ones you actually have, since they differ significantly in value!

Let us know what you find out!

Steve

The OP's set is the Bullion version. MTB was one of the Mint distributors that sold the Bullion version sets. The collector versions were sold by the mint, individually - NOT in sets. Each comes in its own black box.

Thanks. You’re absolutely correct. The set of five for $1520 offered by APMEX is indeed the same bullion version owned by @CraigL .

Steve

CraigL

Update: APMEX said they could not offer even $1,000 for the set. Bummer.

I think my play for now is going to be to leave the box in the storage tote and revisit it in 5 years.

You all are awesome. Thanks so much for all of the advice.

CraigL

@FranklinHalfAddict said:

@CraigL said:
The story on these -- especially the 2010s -- is pretty wild.
-Craig

Could you provide a link to somewhere that has the story or give a brief version of it?
I tried finding something on Google but couldn’t and I’m not familiar with the story.
Thanks.

Sure. Here are a few:

https://www.coinnews.net/2010/08/12/500000-america-the-beautiful-5-oz-silver-bullion-coins-for-2010/

(they only ended up producing 33,000 sets)

https://www.numismaticnews.net/archive/public-uproar-over-prices-for-5-ounce-silver-coin

More or less, the Mint had trouble producing them and by law could only make them until 12/31/10. If I recall, actual production only lasted a few weeks. Heck, I'm not even sure what the packaging looks like! Ha!

-Craig

Tomthecoinguy

@CraigL said:

@FranklinHalfAddict said:

@CraigL said:
The story on these -- especially the 2010s -- is pretty wild.
-Craig

Could you provide a link to somewhere that has the story or give a brief version of it?
I tried finding something on Google but couldn’t and I’m not familiar with the story.
Thanks.

Sure. Here are a few:

https://www.coinnews.net/2010/08/12/500000-america-the-beautiful-5-oz-silver-bullion-coins-for-2010/

(they only ended up producing 33,000 sets)

https://www.numismaticnews.net/archive/public-uproar-over-prices-for-5-ounce-silver-coin

More or less, the Mint had trouble producing them and by law could only make them until 12/31/10. If I recall, actual production only lasted a few weeks. Heck, I'm not even sure what the packaging looks like! Ha!

-Craig

Boy this brings back memories, if you want to find out more about this you can search for the monster thread on this site when the first came out. It was crazy as we are all trying to figure out how to get them. Here is what I remember about it:

Limited mintage when they first came out, mainly due to production difficulties with the unique size at the time.

The Authorized purchasers (MTB, Jack Hunt, APMEX, and I think six others) others got the allotment as they do with all the bullion issues.

Some of the APs started to charge huge premiums in a presale.

There was a public outcry at the "price gauging" and the mint decided to step in.

The price required the APs to sell them to the general public, with a limit of 1 set per customer, many of the APs are wholesale only so this was a big deal.

The mint set the price for the sales, they could only charge a small set premium, and reasonable shipping.

The price of silver went up before the APs could start their sales. Many of the APs went back to the mint and asked if they could up the price because of the silver price increase, but the mint said Nope!

So when the APs started their sales the sets were going for less then spot. We worked together and shared information on this forum. I don't remember for sure, but I probably got at least 6 or 7 sets. I think I still have my APMEX set, they actually had all of them graded by PCGS, so you basically got free grading with them. But they also gave the best grades to their best customers.

I recently came across a few of my receipts, they came to around $920 to $950 depending on the AP.

I don't remember when, but within 6 months I think, the silver market crashed when from I think around $40 to $20 or less.

It was a wild ride, and I did quite well. It actually opened my eyes to getting wholesale accounts with some of the APs, so it was hugely important to my coin business, which I was just starting at the time.

So do others remember this? It was a great time on this forum.